Sunshine
by zane
Summary: Eight weeks after Dilemma. Nita’s mother is dead, she’s finding herself attracted to her best friend, and a pig with a top hat doesn’t tell her the meaning of life. Or does he?


Sunshine  
Eight weeks after Dilemma. Nita's mother is dead, she's finding herself attracted to her best friend, and a pig with a top hat doesn't tell her the meaning of life. Or does he?  
  
  
I ain't happy  
I'm feelin' bad  
I got sunshine  
In a bag  
  
I feel useless  
But not for long  
The world  
Is coming on  
- Unknown (to me, anyways) singer and song.  
  
  
  
  
Eight weeks after A Wizard's Dilemma...  
  
  
A line of black-clad people walked past a grave, dropping various types of flowers on top of a coffin, already being prepared to be covered with dirt.  
  
The coffin was a nice one. Not that expensive and not that cheap, but was rather beautiful all the same. Inside a fifty one year old woman laid, skinny but still lovely.  
  
A twelve year old girl, with black hair that shimmered a dark red, was sobbing, tears falling down her face. You could tell she had been at it for a while, as her sobs were turning into hiccups, and her tears were slowly lessening.  
  
She stood next to a much larger burly man, who was obviously her father, due to the resemblance.  
  
On the other side of the man, a girl of fourteen stood. She had black hair that fell to her shoulders, and was wearing a black skirt with a black top. Her skirt fell to her knees, not an inch higher.  
  
After the people slowly drifted away, the man broke the silence. "We'd better be getting home." His voice cracked, and you could hear the obvious stress the funeral had taken on him.  
  
As they left and the gravediggers came back, nobody noticed the fourteen year old throwing a blood red rose on top of the coffin and into the grave.  
  
  
  
A week later...  
  
  
"I'm worried about you, Neets," a boy who looked just as old as Juanita Callahan (also known as Nita), but was a year younger, said. "You haven't released any emotions, and we're becoming more distant. I- I, well, like you, and I don't want to see you hurt."  
  
Nita smiled, and although her smile looked real, her eyes didn't change from the hurt and sadness that was apparent. "Kit, I don't need to cry or release any emotions. I'm perfectly fine. A bit sad, of course, but we knew she would die for eight weeks. I've had time to adjust to this."  
  
He shrugged, still worried, but pushed it to the back of his mind. "Do we have the silver fork?"  
  
  
  
That night...  
  
  
I was born somewhere around the beginning of time. Maybe a few million years later, but that was a close enough estimate.  
  
My species were the p'Hnig. Pronounced 'pig', h and n silent.  
  
We lived on a perfectly lovely planet a few galaxies over. Few were wizards, but those who were were revered and worshipped.  
  
I was a wizard.  
  
After my first day after my Task, I accidentally blew up a star. It wasn't that big of a deal; I only killed and/or destroyed around fifteen species.  
  
However, one of those species were supposed to die out the next year due to a plague, so that was a quicker solution.  
  
The problem was when I (accidentally) also killed a Power. Or rather, a Power who was in disguise.  
  
That Power wasn't that major of one, but his sister... hoo, boy. She got mad, and taught me a lesson.  
  
Whenever someone who is a wizard sees me, they ask, 'What's the meaning of life?'  
  
I've never told. Yet.  
  
  
I was walking along the edges of various dream universes, on my way to the Transcendence Gala (of which I was forced to go to, my date being a frog who accidentally got on the bad side of the Dark One), and I spotted a slightly off dream.  
  
Oh, most dreams are usually quite strange (have I ever told you of the time I saw a chicken get cross a road? No? Well, that's a different story.), but this one had a touch of Dark in it.  
  
I entered the dream, prepared to take on the Dark One single-handedly, hopefully to fight to the death so I wouldn't be able to go to the Gala. However, what I found stunned even me.  
  
A girl, of about fourteen years, sat in blackness. Pure, undiluted black; no other objects, pictures, nothing. She was sobbing her heart out.  
  
I couldn't tell what was wrong with the dream, except for the girl. I walked a bit closer, away from the edges of the dream and the Walkways. I stood in front of her and gently asked, "What's wrong, little one?"  
  
She looked up, her eyes puffy and red, and sniffed. "I want my mommy."  
  
This plaintive sentence sounded like it came from a six year old, with good  
reason. She had suddenly turned into one, herself. I knew she seemed familiar, but I just  
didn't know how.  
  
Then, when she went back to sobbing, I realized - of course! This was the girl that had attempted to save her mother's life from cancer, and the boy who had followed after, with the Glede. She was obviously Touched by the Dark.  
  
I sat down, a chair appearing, and asked her, "Where's your mother?"  
  
She replied, "Under the ground."  
  
It was heartbreaking to see her so sad. I smiled, and told her to listen up. "I will tell you something I've told none other before, in my many years of life."  
  
And so, I told her the meaning of life.  
  
  
  
2:00 AM, after the dream...  
  
  
I woke up. There wasn't anything amiss, yet I still felt... wrong. Odd. Like something was wrong with my best friend. I felt around in my head for Nita, and could tell she was awake, but I couldn't get through.  
  
Turning over, I checked the clock: 2:00 AM. Much too early to get up, and yet, I wasn't sleepy.  
  
I climbed out of bed and opened the window, the cool Atlantic air making my room several degrees cooler. I decided that since I was apparently up for the day, I might as well make something of it.  
  
I went to my desk, carefully trying not to step on any creaky boards so as to not awake my parents, and also trying not to trip over any clothing. I gingerly sat down in my chair and picked an almost finished model of DNA, and began looking for another piece.  
  
After a half an hour of this, I gave up and changed out of my still slightly sweaty pajamas and pulled my day clothes on. I carefully went through the house, trying not to make any noise, and went out the front door. I could feel something sort of tugging me towards the school, so I followed. Ponch, my dog, was off chasing rabbits down the street.  
  
I continued walking towards the school, knowing that I was pretty stupid to be outside at three in the morning in a city.  
  
Eventually I made it to the school, and I saw a dark, feminine feature swinging viciously on a swing.  
  
I walked over and sat down on the next swing over, and smiled. "Hi, Neets."  
  
She grunted and slowed down. "What are you doing out this early in the morning?"  
  
"I could ask you the same question."  
  
"I asked you first."  
  
I could tell something was wrong. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I had a dream."  
  
"Yeah? What sort of dream?"  
  
She sighed. "I can't remember, though I do know it was pretty important."  
  
She began to pump her legs, attempting to swing. She wasn't getting very far, so I laughed and stood up. "Let me help you."  
  
Blushing, she replied. "Thanks. I can't really get myself started on these things." I laughed again and gently pushed her back with just enough force so that she began swinging. I kept on doing that until she was as high as I could reach, and then I sat down on my own swing again.  
  
I thought back several months, remembering the Transcendent Pig, and asked, "Hey, I wonder what happened to the Transcendent Pig?"  
  
Nita immediately put her feet down onto the ground and skid to a stop. "I remember what the dream was!"  
  
After several minutes of us just sitting there, I asked in response, "What was it?"  
  
"I was sitting in the dark, crying," she pondered her next words. "The Transcendent Pig came up, wearing a top hat, and asked me what was wrong. I suddenly felt younger - maybe ten or so years younger. I replied back, 'I want my mommy.' He  
asked me, 'Where is she?' I responded, 'Under the ground.'"  
  
I nodded, showing I understood. She continued. "Now comes the strange part. The Transcendent Pig sat down on a chair that suddenly appeared, and told me a story he said that nobody else knew, except him. He told me the meaning of life, without me even having to guess it."  
  
I gasped, stunned. The sarcastic pig who walked on the edges of worlds who never told anyone what he knew, told my best friend? Preposterous. And yet... I knew it was true.  
  
"I then turned back into myself, and the dream ended."  
  
I was still stunned, and we both began to pump our legs, attempting to swing. After fifteen minutes, I whispered, "I do like you, you know."  
  
She whispered back, "I like you too."  
  
Eventually, we stopped. I checked my watch, and it was four o'clock. We both got up and prepared to go home, hopefully sneaking in before anyone noticed we were ever gone.  
  
As we left, Nita stopped and turned around, towards me. She hugged me, long and fierce, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I was surprised and couldn't help my grin, which practically cracked my face.  
  
We set off again. When we reached the street where we would be parting ways, I stopped her and asked, "What exactly was the meaning of life? You never told me."  
  
She winked, and turned onto her street, her voice carrying back to me on the wind, "The world may never know."  
  
  
  
  
Disclaimer:  
Nothing is mine, except for the plot.  
  
  
  
Author's Note:  
Dark Wizardry won't be updated until I get something related to a decent idea.  
  
The song at the beginning matched the story, to some extent. Besides that, I put it in because I liked it.  
  
Reviewreviewreviewreviewreview. Yes. 


End file.
